catastrophic
adjUK /kætəˈstɹɒfɪk/ · US /ˌkætəˈstɹɑfɪk/
Etymology Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek καταστροφικός (katastrophikós). By surface analysis, catastrophe + -ic.
1
Of or pertaining to a catastrophe.
2
Disastrous; ruinous.
- The reason why Jon & Kate Plus 8 is such a hot topic is because it might all be a sham. It’s been claimed that Jon has a string of mistresses, that Kate had an affair with her bodyguard and that Baby Number Six is actually a shaved Ewok with a catastrophic heroin addiction. Or something.2009 May 22, Stuart Heritage, “Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”, in Hecklerspray, archived from the original on 15 Apr 2024:
- Some experts, such as geographer Jared Diamond in his 2005 book, “Collapse,” used Easter Island as a cautionary tale of how the exploitation of limited resources can result in catastrophic population decline, ecological devastation and the destruction of a society through infighting.2024 September 14, Katie Hunt, “New evidence upends contentious Easter Island theory, scientists say”, in CNN, archived from the original on 21 Sep 2024:
3
From which recovery is impossible.
- catastrophic failure
- Synonyms
- catastrophal
- Antonyms
- anastrophic
- Derived terms
- catastrophically, catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome, catastrophic backtracking, catastrophic failure, catastrophic forgetting, catastrophic interference, catastrophic kill, catastrophic mortality, catastrophic moult, megacatastrophic, noncatastrophic, postcatastrophic, subcatastrophic, supercatastrophic, uncatastrophic